THE HABITATION OF A MANDARIN - Public domain scan of engraving

Drawing by William Alexander, draughtsman of the Macartney Embassy to China in 1793. The habitation of a Chinese mandarin. The house of a mandarin is generally distinguished by two large poles erected before the gate; in the day time flags are displayed on the poles as ensigns of his dignity, and during the night painted lanthorns are suspended on them. Alexander writes that the superior Chinese choose to live in great privacy, their habitations therefore are generally surrounded by a wall; their houses seldom exceed one story in height, though there are some few exceptions, as in the residence of the British Embassy at Peking. The rooms of a Chinese house are without ceilings, so that the timbers supporting the roof are exposed. The common articles of furniture are frames covered with silk of various colors, adorned with moral sentences, written in characters of gold, which are hung in the compartments; on their tables are displayed curious dwarf trees, branches of agate, or gold and silver fish, all which are placed in handsome vessels of porcelain. Image taken from The Costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings, published in London in 1805.